Moody Motorcycle
{{Infobox album
| name = Moody Motorcycle
| type = studio
| artist = Human Highway
| cover = Human highway - moddy motorcycle.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|2008|8|19}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = {{hlist|Indie rock|pop}}
| length =
| label = {{hlist|Secret City|Suicide Squeeze}}
| producer = Jim Guthrie
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
| misc =
}}
Moody Motorcycle is the only studio album by Canadian indie rock duo Human Highway. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Secret City Records in Canada and Suicide Squeeze Records in the United States.
Critical reception
{{Music ratings
| MC = 71/100{{Cite web |title=Critic Reviews for Moody Motorcycle - Metacritic |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/moody-motorcycle/human-highway/critic-reviews |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Metacritic |language=en}}
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite web |last=Eder |first=Bruce |title=Moody Motorcycle - Human Highway {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/moody-motorcycle-mw0000792627 |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}
| rev2 = Now
| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5|full=Noto Color- N.svg|empty=Blue square N.PNG|rating=N}}{{Cite magazine |last=Perlich |first=Tim |date=August 13, 2008 |title=HUMAN HIGHWAY - NOW Magazine |url=https://nowtoronto.com/music/human-highway/ |access-date=June 23, 2025 |magazine=NOW Toronto |language=en-CA}}
| rev3 = Prefix
| rev4 = Pitchfork
| rev4score = 5.7/10{{Cite web |last=Grisham |first=Tyler |date=August 29, 2008 |title=Human Highway: Moody Motorcycle |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12142-moody-motorcycle/ |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}
| rev5 = PopMatters
| rev5score = 7/10{{Cite web |last=Fiander |first=Matthew |date=September 9, 2008 |title=Human Highway: Moody Motorcycle » PopMatters |url=https://www.popmatters.com/human-highway-moody-motorcycle-2496122725.html |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=PopMatters |language=en-US}}
| rev6 = Slant
| rev6score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{Cite web |last=McBee |first=Wilson |date=August 27, 2008 |title=Review: Human Highway, Moody Motorcycle |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/human-highway-moody-motorcycle/ |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Slant Magazine |language=en-US}}
| rev7 = Spin
| rev7score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Suarez |first=Jessica |date=August 18, 2008 |title=Human Highway, ‘Moody Motorcycle’ (Suicide Squeeze) |magazine=SPIN |publisher=SPIN Media LLC |page=116 |language=en-US |publication-date=September 2008 |volume=24 |issue=9 |issn=0886-3032}}
| rev8 = Tiny Mix Tapes
| rev8score = {{Rating|3.5|5|full=TMT full.svg|half=TMT half.svg|empty=TMT empty.svg|rating=mark}}{{Cite web |last=Constine |first=Josh |date=August 26, 2008 |title=Music Review: Human Highway (Nick Thorburn and Jim Guthrie) - Moody Motorcycle |url=https://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/human-highway-nick-thorburn-and-jim-guthrie-moody-motorcycle |access-date=June 23, 2025 |website=Tiny Mix Tapes |language=en}}
}}
Moody Motorcycle was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on nine reviews.
Andrew Winistorfer of Prefix magazine praised the album, calling it "a deft reappropriation and re-imagining of the harmonic pop of the Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash". AllMusic's Bruce Eder wrote: "what is plainer throughout is that someone has finally delivered a follow-up to the Beach Boys' Friends album, dwelling on moments and sensibilities that slip past most of us in the normal course of a day". Matthew Fiander of PopMatters declared: "it is nice to hear a pop record like Moody Motorcycle, not just to wind down the summer, but to combat some other indie rock trends". Josh Constine of Tiny Mix Tapes stated: "while enduring a few accidents, the group's fresh folk approach shows promise".
In mixed reviews, Tim Perlich of Now wrote: "it's just the sort of gently strummed, sweetly harmonized and vaguely familiar-sounding pop music replete with quirky lyrical turns that is designed to make indie-rock-obsessed music hacks swoon. And they will". Wilson McBee of Slant stated: "Moody Motorcycle is easily Thorburn's least ambitious effort, evidenced by the inclusion of song sketches like 'Ode to Abner' and tracks that seem like outtakes from his Islands work (for example, the title cut and 'Pretty Hair'), and yet in its many moments of off-the-cuff beauty the album proves, perhaps even more than the meticulously executed "Arm's Way", the extraordinary talents of this oft-misunderstood Canadian". Jessica Suarez of Spin noted: "the title track gusts in more forcefully, but on the duo's best songs, they harmonize like Simon & Garfunkel shutting their eyes against approaching shades of winter". Tyler Grisham of Pitchfork concluded: "Human Highway work best in this inviting, flickering-campfire headspace, and for an amiable if ephemeral 40 minutes, Moody Motorcycle offers a pleasant soundtrack to the dwindling days of the summer".
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = The Sound
| lyrics1 = {{hlist|Nicholas Thorburn|James Edward Guthrie}}
| music1 = {{hlist|Nicholas Thorburn|James Edward Guthrie}}
| length1 = 2:44
| title2 = All Day
| lyrics2 = {{hlist|Thorburn|Guthrie}}
| music2 = Guthrie
| length2 = 3:32
| title3 = Get Lost
| lyrics3 = Thorburn
| music3 = Thorburn
| length3 = 3:52
| title4 = What World
| lyrics4 = {{hlist|Thorburn|Guthrie}}
| music4 = Guthrie
| length4 = 3:33
| title5 = Sleep Talking
| lyrics5 = Thorburn
| music5 = Thorburn
| length5 = 3:34
| title6 = Moody Motorcycle
| lyrics6 = {{hlist|Thorburn|Guthrie}}
| music6 = Guthrie
| length6 = 3:11
| title7 = My Beach
| lyrics7 = Thorburn
| music7 = Thorburn
| length7 = 2:55
| title8 = Ode to Abner
| lyrics8 = Thorburn
| music8 = Thorburn
| length8 = 1:59
| title9 = Pretty Hair
| lyrics9 = Thorburn
| music9 = Thorburn
| length9 = 3:46
| title10 = Vision Failing
| lyrics10 = Thorburn
| music10 = Thorburn
| length10 = 3:16
| title11 = Duties of a Lighthouse Keeper
| lyrics11 = {{hlist|Thorburn|Guthrie}}
| music11 = Guthrie
| length11 = 3:51
| title12 = I Wish I Knew
| lyrics12 = Dick Dallas
| music12 = Billy Taylor
| length12 = 3:04
| total_length =
}}
Personnel
- Nicholas "Nick Diamonds" Thorburn – lyrics (tracks: 1–11), performer
- James Edward "Jim" Guthrie – lyrics (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6, 11), performer, producer, recording, mixing
- Patrice Agbokou – bass (track 7)
- Art Mullin – mixing
- Jeff "Fedge" Elliott – mastering
- Sasha Barr – art direction
- Jaime Hogge – photography, layout
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Discogs master|349945|Moody Motorcycle|type=album}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Secret City Records albums